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Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Stone-to-mud probably always existed because it's a great utility spell for castle storming, and stone-to-flesh because " failed one save character dead forever" was greeted with "gently caress you Gary, that's bulldog!!" Even in the 60s.

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Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Horrible Lurkbeast posted:

Remember that Skaven are inspired by the ratpark experiments, where the population density was allowed to grow far beyond healthy proportion.
Rats are very sociable under normal circumstances.
Well, that's an interesting thought experiment. The Skaven aren't inherently evil, they've just been manipulated by a demon god and the social rulers to exist in a way that's both unnatural and unsustainable. Remove the forced overpopulation, and they're more chill versions of the beastmen.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I don't think it would be THAT hard to keep vampires hidden - they're rich, connected, powerful, and deeply dug in.

Tell me, would you REALLY be surprised if there was a murder cult of extremely rich Manhattanites who quietly picked off a sex worker or transient person once a week? Especially if they had a cadre of cops on their side?

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Night10194 posted:

It's the part where they get into regular superhero fights and also have a supervillain component whose entire thing is 'gently caress HIDING' that makes it strain credulity.
Oh, absolutely - the Sabbat going around on punk murder sprees and getting in fights with Werewolves while a team of MiBs try to kill them with alien techno-magic would, uh...

Well.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

A local young noble pissed off a local witch with his terrible manners, so he's been cursed with wereporcine. Every full moon, he'll turn into a literal boar. To break the curse, the PCs must have a charming dinner with the noble, or just find the witch and ask her nicely to reverse the curse.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

RPGs also have the weird trait shared with comic books where, due to the commercial infrastructure surrounding the creative work, you got individual entries that directly contradict or undermine the larger artistic vision. You have serious stories about what it means to never die... interrupted by a team up with super girl or part of a gimmick to gender swap all heroes.

Vampire has the added twist where the consumer of the media isn't particularly interested in the intended experience anyway, and would rather play moody superheroes.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

MonsterEnvy posted:

I liked the "We are Rebel Demons, so naturally we have to do good deeds and follow all the rules. Yesterday I did some community service and donated blood I am such a badass"
I appreciate the idea of a demonic Fonz who always wears a leather jacket... and a helmet. Gotta set an example for the kids, ya'know?

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I blame the creepy vampire who has been following the players around, disguised or possessing Mirom-mer

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I'm seriously having trouble imagining a scenario with any of my play groups where the mythos train plot wouldn't be irreversible derailed into a game of "mad private detectives try to murder Mussolini" if I had blackshirts jump them in a gondola after a funeral.

Like I'm pretty sure Felik himself would have to show up and order their asses back on the train.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Real subtle with the clone subplot, ZombieTown.

Also, if you're going to have the local police be essential to maintaining the conspiracy, you should probably write them as being part of the conspiracy from the beginning. If people started getting obviously body snatched and are attacking the sheriff, I'm pretty sure my party isn't letting her out of their sight.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I'd love it if a far future transhuman game just had the twist be that each society was lovely and terrible in exactly the way you'd expect. Post-currency culture that relies on reputation and social norms? Hope you're not the Freaks and Geeks of Station Mean Girls. Hypercapitalist arcology? The only art and culture are decadent displays of wealth and graffiti. Libertopia with no laws? The local warlord keeps turning it into a pirate and slaving port.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I'm really excited for this Neuroshima review. Games made in non-english languages, isolated from American tropes, always have these interesting veneers to them. Even when they follow the same Tolkien formula, cultural frameworks and the different local zeitgeist are reflected in these fascinating ways.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

So basically HSD is the new Doom game but even dumber, with furries. Cool!

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Tevery Best posted:

Oh, it's not really isolated from American tropes. In fact, it mashes together an incredible number of them in a way that is unmistakably European because of its blind spots. I think the strongest telltale sign is that for a game set in the United States it only ever mentions two states by name.
Tropes is probably the wrong word here... I guess what i mean is role-playing design and setting conventions. Even RPGs designed in Japan, which i assume have more cross-cultural exchange with America than Poland, make these fascinating decisions - iirc those ubiquitous smiling slime came from D&D oozes, which have now returned in games like Cuphead...

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Cythereal posted:

Or give the lich a congenial butler sort who doesn't want to put up with the hassle of his boss waking up and damning adventurers to the torment of ten thousand years and tries to shepherd them out of the fortress of doom.
The bedraggled adventurers stumble in, leaving a soaking puddle. The floating skull turns to them, fear and horror evident despite not actually having any skin. "I forgot to lock the door."

A loud crash as a manticore lands on the drawbridge behind them.

"I forgot to let in the cat!"

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Why even have it be a setup? What's the point? I mean, sure, your local guide is part of the cult, that's fine. How would it ever come up that the attack was faked, and if it did come up, his does that improve the story?

Why does the sweaty shadowbroker need to be a patsy? It literally adds nothing.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

My favorite Lovecraft story is the one where the protagonist goes mad and commits suicide when he realizes his grandmother was African*.




*And also a sasquatch

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I feel like maybe I should clarify, I actually love Lovercraft and Howard and Burroughs, but my fave is problematic. I don't think that disqualify them from modern media, but it's part of the legacy that every work carries, and has to be dealt with (even if you deal with it by ignoring it and excising any mention).

I just feel that mentioning Aurthur Jermyn really helps to contextualize Lovecraft and his derivatives.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

The Vosgian Beast posted:

I was going to say "Hey, Burroughs wasn't a racist or a contemporary of Howard and Lovecraft" but then I realized you were talking about Edgar Rice and not William S

If you want to play the latter, there is always, somehow, Over the Edge
Now I'm imagining a Victorian investigators confronting a police officer turned cytoplasm in an opium den and losing their sanity when confronted with Steely Dan.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

You know what would have been a great climax for being held hostage by 300 all-powerful cultist and their flesh monster made from tortured kids? A pissed off vampire ripping them to shreds in front of the players who manage to escape with some kids and part of the statue.

You know what would be a great end to the adventure? Trying to deal with a pissed off vampire who really wants that cool arm you've got.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

RiotGearEpsilon posted:

What's ridiculous about a magic hat? Edit: Never mind I just heard myself say 'magic hat' out loud
The pile of snow becomes ambulatory and begins shouting incoherently. Lose 1/1d4 SAN.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Man... Now I want to play a game where you're a blues musician who is trying to stay one step ahead of ol' Scratch, using mojo and music.

This is mostly a separate thought.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

When I was a pre-teen, I was convinced our GM had some thousand-entry critical failure table.

Turned out he just made us keep rolling a d6 until it didn't show a 1 while he came up with something appropriately disastrous.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Mirror universe really makes much more sense for an RPG anyway. I mean, who doesn't look at Star Trek: Discovery and see their play group.

Don't @ me.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Night10194 posted:

Ah, NPC the players are expected to love, always a dangerous gambit.

I'm getting a serious "Kilimanjaro Expedition" sketch from Starkweather. Like this is the prologue to one of those "ill-fated" expeditions where the leader thought English Grit was an acceptable replacement for proper planning and sufficient supplies.

Being told that I'm expected to respect this guy, even in character...

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Kurieg posted:

I like Pugmire well enough, I just wish it was less up it's own rear end about Pugs and the whole Miscegenation thing.
I'm not... surprised, per se, that a pug owner both thinks pugs are the best and doesn't see anything wrong with the horrible culture surrounding dog breeds and pedigrees, and having that reflected in the game. The unfortunate real-world Human connotations of miscegenation is just a knock-on effect that is, frankly, baked a lot deeper into D&D and it's derivatives. Remember the 3.5 race that was literally a racial mix who were shunned by all communities, but were secretly cared for and loved by all their cousin mixed members of a community who "passed"? Yeah...

To bring it back to Pugmire, it doesn't take a lot of effort to re-write the Pugs and other Noble Breeds as inbred, incompetent antagonists who are leading the the Dog Kingdoms to ruin, and the heroes of the setting as the Strays and Mutts. Pan Dachshund would obviously be re-cast as Pan Jack Russel, and have a MUCH more explicitly negative view of Pugmire society. This just isn't as easily supported by the rules as I'd like, though.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I should clarify that I have oddly strong feelings about dog breeding in general and pugs in particular, and that may be coloring my views.

I don't have a problem with Pugmire being a reskinned 5e though - not every setting need their own system.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Mors Rattus posted:

I hate to break it to you but 5e is the opposite of a universal system, and indeed does a disservice to the whole magic-as-highly-advanced-lost-technology thing.
Neither was AD&D 2nd, but it had both Dark Sun and Spelljammer :D

But I don't have a lot of experience with 5e, so I'll take your word for it. I'm just throwing out there that, dog breeding rants aside, I don't have a fundamental issue with "Greyhawk But Dogs" - in fact, I often get frustrated when a setting feels the need to re-invent the wheel.

But I also think 2nd was a terrible match for spelljammer so maybe I just don't like learning new rule sets even if they're more appropriate.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Hommlet is fine for doing first, but I'd REALLY love a blind reading of Barrier Peaks because it really feels like out of nowhere.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I want to clarify, so that you don't get suspicious and google it - Barrier Peaks isn't a BAD surprise. It's not the author ambushing you with their fetish or radical ideological beliefs, like Wizard's First Rule. It's just an honest to God left field zinger.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Toughness should give DR 1/-, or like 3 HP per level. Feats should noticeably affect your character, and taking toughness should make your character a person who is defined by by their remarkable toughness.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

In defense of the single big monster, it makes combat tremendously easier to run. There's a reason a horde of zombies gets treated as, well, a horde.

Having said that, I really appreciated how 4e made the fundamentals for an interesting encounter very clear and straight forward (Skirmishers versus Artillery versus Elites) even if they didn't execute it perfectly.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

GM: "The Duke casts Fact Or Fiction"

The players all groan, one grabs in head in despair.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Simian_Prime posted:

Betrayal at Alpha Complex
Seems like it would work better than Betrayal at Baldur's Gate... a lot better.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

They're also about the laziest, most boring way you could handle the concept "What if the Thomas Malory Knights of the Round Table were more augmented that J.C. Denton".

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee


I'm enjoying these write ups by the way. Although for a low magic setting, they aren't waiting on having you fight a demon prince in a floating ice castle.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Oh my goooooooooooooooood

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I do kinda want to play in a game where "A Wizard, A Space Marine, and two different versions of cat men go on a quest to throw the One Ring into The Dark Sun" now.

No, not Torg.

No, not Rifts.

No, not D&D 2e.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Hey, so, last week I started writing an essay about the 4e release, trying to put all those arguments from 10 years ago in context. The idea being that, after 10 years, we could discuss the edition war in an academic manner.

So what I'm trying to say is, when I post it, I'm not aiming it at anyone here in this current discussion.

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Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

A book of monsters in the original Greek sense, with advice on how to incorporate their moral message of divine punishment into your particular game would be pretty cool.

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